Moldable Steel
by Rorania
Summary: [Continuation of What If]Pyro is a jerk and Rogue can’t handle it, despite her feelings for him. She spends more time with Colossus, his presence calming. RogueColossus, Jealous!Pyro. Rated for Language.[oneshot]


_Short continuation of my RoguePyro one-shot, "What If". Rogue stops Pyro from leaving after Alkali Lake so he never joined the Brotherhood. But this is the RogueColossus part of my story, since Pyro can't help but be the smarmy jerk that he is.;)_

_Summary: Pyro is a jerk and Rogue can't handle it, despite her feelings for him. She spends more time with Colossus, his presence calming. RogueColossus, Jealous!Pyro.  
_

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Rogue grabbed her lunch tray from the microwave, turning to find a seat. She spotted John immediately. He was staring at her, flicking his damned lighter. Disgusted she looked away. 

"Rogue," a deep baritone sounded to her left.

Looking in that direction, she smiled at Piotr as she made her way towards him. She took a seat next to him, across from Warren.

"Hey," she greeted. "Warren, you decided you were hungry today?"

He smiled slightly. "Yes. The staff area seemed a little more friendly in the absence of Logan."

"Well, sugah you're welcome ta sit with us anytime. Logan's a softie. Simply something about having to be the alpha male in the room at all times," she sent him a sparkling smile, to which he couldn't help but smile. Very few things made him, or the quiet Russian, smile. She made it her mission to get them to do so often.

"And Piotr, how's math coming?" she turned to said stoic metal man.

Xavier, upon his return, started an accredited university, similar to the online universities, except available to mutants. All X-men attended. Xavier was having his students assist in the teaching at the manor for the time being. Piotr's strengths were maths and physics. Rogue chose English and French. Bobby helped out with history and Pyro was helping Logan with P.E and…Art.

Piotr nodded. "Good."

When he didn't say anymore, Rogue bent to her plate and smiled. She swore; Piotr would never change. A man of few words, he was.

"Hey did ya guys see that special on HBO…" she started up a conversation. If they weren't on a mission, training or grading papers, and it was too late to go out, they would crowd into the staff lounge to hang-out usually with the tv on. Warren and Colossus almost always played chess, but she sat nearby soaking up some pop culture and that they were vaguely aware of the tv in the background. If they weren't, well she caught them up.

Across the room, Pyro grit his teeth, still flicking his lighter open and close. His friend, Bobby Drake slowed his chewing at John's renewed clicking and amount of venom in his expression.

"Man, you're gonna need caps if you keep grinding your teeth like that."

Pyro spared him a brief glance of annoyance before looking back to see _her_ laughing along with Steel Head.

"Come on. Just tell her you like her and…stop being yourself."

John shot his gaze to meet Bobby's amused one, glaring.

"What? I'd ice your ass if you talked to me the way you talk to her," Bobby continued, crossing his arms.

John snorted. "As if you could."

"Like hell, I can." Bobby retorted.

"Wanna go little man?" John shot back.

"Anytime, anywhere." Bobby replied, smirking.

John just growled.

"Look," Bobby sighed. "The girls are having some sort of night out. Why don't we head into town and hang out. Catch a movie or just shoot pool. You know, relax."

John smirked. "Yeah, right. You're just bored since Kitty won't be around. Always come second in that ice-cold heart of yours, eh?"

Bobby shook his head. "At least I have one."

"Oh, well hit me where it hurts. You must've battled Pietro one too many times. His lameness is rubbing off."

"At least his sister doesn't have a crush on me."

John snorted. "No surprise there."

"Well, yeah. With the company she keeps, it seems dickheads are her type."

"The only dickhead I see here is the overgrown Russian," Pyro growled, still watching Rogue.

"Then get a mirror," Bobby muttered.

"It's not natural. He looks like he's twenty-five and he's our age," John continued, annoyed.

"Well," Bobby started. "Logan's older than Xavier and he looks about thirty-eight."

Pyro ignored him.

Bobby sighed. "Look, you fucked yourself over. If you're not going to do anything to fix it, then I don't want to hear it. Come on, we have class." He stood gathering up his trash.

Pyro huffed and stood as well. He didn't eat anything. He really didn't have any appetite at lunch.

_Later that night…_

"Remember what we said!" a giddy Kitty yelled in a loud whisper as they dropped Rogue off at her room. They spent the night on the town, going to a local carnival and getting their fortunes told and silly stuff.

Jubilee shushed her, just as loud and with a giggle or two as they clomped their way to their room. Rogue just shook her head, smiling. She wasn't prone to giggles but their antics could be infectious. Also, the idea that Colossus could be interested in her was unbelievable. Kitty and Jube didn't know what they were talking about.

Rogue closed the door and flicked on her lamp. She looked at her bed, but despite how tiring any outing with Kitty and Jubilee was, she wasn't sleepy. Sighing, she slipped off her shoes and jacket, pulling out her nightie and some pajama pants to go under it. Pulling her black silk robe on over it, she headed for the kitchen.

Trudging through the corridor, she stared at her bare feet. Her lethal bare feet. Pushing that thought away, she smiled before rising in the air an inch, and gliding forward, silent as a ghost.

She was gaining control quickly over her new powers. Ever since the encounter with that woman, she was able to fly, had superhuman strength and impervious skin. She felt a tinge of regret thinking about how Ms. Marvel had ended up. The woman had attacked them first, however. Only Rogue's powers could defeat her and then she held on too long….

Rogue shook her dreary thoughts off. Professor X had been working with her to overcome her understandable devastation. It'd been almost five months now. Pyro had stopped sniping at her, but he was cold towards her nonetheless. She had no idea what his problem was and was tired of trying to figure him out.

That's why she started spending more time with Piotr. He and Warren were quiet and calming. Nothing like her friendship with Bobby and John. With her thoughts in constant turmoil, sometimes mixing with Ms. Marvel's so much that she couldn't tell the woman's memories from her own sometimes.

Thinking of Piotr, she smiled. He trained harder than anyone else. His mutation was so tuned to him it reacted without voluntary thought when in immediate danger. She slipped once, on the stairs and he caught her around the waist, right when her shirt had slipped up, revealing her bare mid-drift. His arms immediately took on their steel form, and nullified the affect her powers would have had on his skin.

Once she was steady on her feet, she spun in his arms, staring up at him wide-eyed and breathless. Her obvious gratitude must've made him uncomfortable, for she could've sworn he'd blushed.

Entering the kitchen, she flicked on the light and headed for the fridge. Pulling out the milk, she grabbed a glass and filled it. Returning the milk to the fridge, she sat down at a stool, facing the window.

Taking a sip of her milk, she was startled to hear a hollow footstep near the door. Looking around, she smiled.

"Hey."

Piotr nodded and strode in, taking a seat at a stool next to her.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

Rogue shook her head. "Nah, just winding down. Kitty is a handful by herself. Combined with Jubilee it's intense."

Piotr smiled, looking down. Rogue studied him a moment before sliding her glass towards him.

"Want some? They say it helps," she offered.

She saw that he was about to refuse, politely of course. But he seemed to change his mind and lifted the glass to his mouth. He stared at her over the rim before taking a drink and she suddenly felt warm. Too warm. Looking away, she felt the warmth rise to her face.

She tried to think of anything but his dark eyes piercing hers.

Looking up, she spoke, "So this might be a stupid question but…how does it feel?"

His gaze lowered to follow the point of her gloved finger.

"I mean…what's it feel like when you…change?" she clarified.

Rogue watched as his hand transformed into hard steel. He flexed his fist, the overhead light glinting off the solid contours. His hand turned over then, offering it to her. She glanced up and met his gaze briefly before returning to his outstretched hand.

Slowly, she slid her gloved hand to his.

"No."

She looked up, startled. He smiled.

"Take off your glove," he added.

Biting her lip, Rogue pulled on her glove, sliding it off. Slowly, she slipped her hand back into his. He clasped it, squeezing softly. They were both nearly indestructible now so he needn't worry about harming her, but he was gentle all the same. It was little things like that that showed her this stoic man cared.

"What do _you_ feel?" he countered her earlier question.

Thinking for a moment, she said, "Strength, hardness…power…" she paused flicking her gaze up to his, "warmth." Which was true. Despite its nature, the steely firmness enclosing her hand wasn't cold.

Rogue saw his gaze flick downwards to her mouth briefly. She tightened her hold on his hand, feeling him do likewise immediately after. They leaned in closer, breath speeding up slightly.

A loud clatter had them sitting upright and staring at the door.

"Forgive me," John spoke as he bent down to retrieve his lighter, the source of the clatter. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," he added with a sneer at Piotr. His gaze suddenly focused on the two mutants' clasped hands, his eye narrowing.

Rogue realized what he was staring at and abruptly let go, pulling her glove back on. Piotr retracted his hand as well, standing.

His six foot four frame towered over Pyro, who gulped, mentally cursing his five foot ten stature. He felt like a dwarf next to the terminator.

"I'll see you in the morning, Rogue," he addressed her politely.

She smiled and nodded. "Good night."

Piotr nodded and turned to exit. Pyro scooted out of his way, his instinct to survive overpowering his insane jealous urge to flame his ass.

Once the giant was gone, John focused on Rogue. She was gulping down her milk, rising so she could put the glass into the sink.

He sidled up next to her at the sink. She briskly washed her glass and turned away. He grabbed her arm, stopping her.

She looked at him annoyed.

"You ain't even gonna say goodnight?" he asked.

Huffing, she shrugged him off. "First of all, it's '_aren't_ you _going_ to say goodnight' and secondly, I have no wish to exchange pleasantries with you, St. John." Her time as an English TA made her anal about grammar.

"Someone's in a snit," John scoffed. "Angry I spoiled your little moment with tin head?"

She glared at him. "What do you care? At least he gives a shit about me."

"Who says I don't?"

"Your actions speak louder than words, John." She told him angrily. "Ya keep telling me I'm not weak, but ya expect me to put up with your daily bullshit, simply because you enjoy being 'the bad guy'? Dream on."

She turned to go, disgusted.

Angry, Pyro stopped her saying, "At least I keep you on your toes. What does steel brain do? Grunt?"

Eyes flashing, Rogue turned on him. "He's _there._ He does things I want to do that I know he doesn't want to do, simply so I won't be alone. What's the last selfless thing you've done, John?" she challenged.

John snorted. "It's _not_ selfless what he does, Rogue. He may be made of metal, but he's still a guy. You know there's only one thing they think about."

Rogue worked her jaw. "Well, there's still two types. The kind that deserve ta reap the rewards and then there's the insensitive assholes," she bit out.

Turning, she stalked out of the kitchen. John let her go this time. Cursing he flicked his lighter open and closed.

The ordeal between him, Bobby and her had him so confused angry at her, he just couldn't bring himself to open up to her. So he resorted to the one thing he was good at – being a complete ass. Then it just snowballed. He would say something horrible, then try to apologize, but she wouldn't hear him out and insult him instead and he'd get angry and she'd eventually try to apologize only to be shot down and it was a continuous cycle.

Then the whole Alcatraz incident happened, with the Cure and the deaths of Jean Grey and Cyclops, and the Professor confusion widened their ever-growing chasm. Everything was so messed up.

He spent a year fighting with his supposed best friend over her and now he'd pushed her into the arms of someone he never wanted to be in a fight with, fire manipulator or not.

His pride simply didn't want to suck it up and admit he was a jerk. And now, she'd apparently found someone better. Piotr's eyes would never stray. There was no Kitty to lure him away. To put it in lamen's terms, he was fucked.

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_Later that week…_

Rogue looked around amused. It was her elementary class, her last class before lunch and she'd decided to follow tradition and have everyone give out little paper valentines to every one, so no one felt left out, in celebration of St. Valentine.

They were exchanging them now, while she graded some of the older students' papers. She had a pile of her own valentines from the students, but opted to wait till later.

Only the students had other ideas. Once they'd finished opening all of theirs, she looked up to see them crowding around her desk, telling her she needed to open hers. She smiled and obliged, putting her work away from the moment.

After class, she gathered up her stuff, putting in her drawer and locking it, when someone knocked. Looking up, she saw the cheerful bouncing Kitty.

"Hey! You ready?" Kitty asked.

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

Kitty whipped something out from behind her back. "Look what Bobby gave me," she bounced.

Rogue was presented with a beautiful ice rose and was momentarily woozy from a dose of déjà vu. Shaking her head to clear it, she noticed this one had a long ice stem with ice leaves sticking out in appropriate places.

"Wow, that's beautiful," Rogue exclaimed.

Kitty squealed. "I know! We're going out to that new italian place tonight."

"That's great," Rogue smiled genuinely. She'd always felt bad about having feelings for John while with Bobby. She was glad he had Kitty now.

They headed for the kitchen, Kitty chattering about not knowing what to wear.

"Rogue."

Both girls stopped and turned. Piotr stopped before them. Kitty glanced between him and Rogue, the gruff Russian's gaze focused entirely on her friend.

Smiling, she said, "I'll save ya a seat, Rogue." Before taking off down the hall.

Rogue smiled at Piotr. "Hey," she greeted.

Piotr smiled slightly in response. "Could I…will you walk with me?" he asked.

Rogue's eyes widened, never hearing Piotr falter like that and nodded. He gestured down the hallway and she started that way. As she passed him, she felt his hand on the small of her back briefly. She tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to relieve the sudden warmth singeing her cheeks.

Rogue quickly made small talk asking him about classes as he led her up to the roof, to Storm's outdoor garden. It was a testament to the level of her power and control that she could keep the climate stable year round to maintain it. Beautiful flowers of all kinds, even orchids littered the area. She usually came up here when things got to be too much for her, or her thoughts went chaotic from her victims.

Rogue smiled as she wandered further in. "I love it up here."

"I know."

She turned, shooting him a surprised look at his words. He was regarding her with an intense gaze. She looked questioningly at him.

Piotr strode forward, stopping before her. Rogue turned fully to face him as he reached behind him. Her mouth dropped as he pulled forth a pink enveloped card, with a small box on top of it and held it out to her.

She brought a hand to her mouth as she took it.

"Piotr…you didn't have to, I didn't even…."

"I didn't," he interrupted, nervously. "Well, not entirely. The card's from me, but Warren helped out with the gift…" he drifted off as she opened the card.

It had a bear on the front, holding a heart. Inside, it simply said _Happy Valentine's Day_ and in Piotr's handwriting, _From someone who really cares, Love Always, Piotr._

Rogue bit her lip. She suddenly felt the urge to cry. She didn't expect to receive anything this year, since her break-up with Bobby and John's cold regard. Sniffing, she abruptly pulled him into a hug. Piotr, relieved, tightened his arms around her back. After a long moment she pulled back, wiping her eyes, but smiling. She lifted the box in her hand and raised the lid. She gasped. It was a silver celtic moonstone necklace. She'd seen it on one of the last forays downtown with Warren and Piotr. Rogue hadn't said anything, but she stared at it a full minute before realizing she was falling behind.

"I figured with all you had going on that Valentine's Day wouldn't be easy on you. We just…thought it would cheer you up. Plus, without Warren, I wouldn't have been able to afford it." Piotr grinned and looked away. "And Logan mentioned girls like jewelry, even if just in friendship."

Rogue's eyes sparkled up at him in mirth. "Logan said that, did he?"

Piotr laughed and nodded.

"Well, he was right. I love it." She beamed, giving him another hug. Pulling back she asked, "Why isn't Warren here? I want to thank him too."

Piotr met her gaze. "I wanted to say something first."

Rogue looked at him expectantly, arms now resting along his still lightly wrapped around her. His mouth opened and closed. He tried again but still nothing came out. Rogue started looking at him concerned. Suddenly, he seemed to make up his mind and met her gaze. Her eyes widened at the determination in them, right before his head leaned closer and he kissed her.

Rogue jerked back. It was a reflex due to her power. What she saw was his lips changing from their cool metal colour in his steel form back into his natural pink ones. He smiled softly at her, as comprehension spread across her face, before leaning in again. His mouth was still natural as he kissed her and she pressed into them kissing him back. She felt her power sparking not long after and his lips returning to the warm metal form once again.

It was amazing. Apparently he could control the level of his mutation so that his skin could still cushion hers. Moldable steel. He'd never had an occasion to use his power that way before, though, so it was a pleasant surprise for them both. He could feel the warmth of her mouth and she his. Taking a chance, he slipped his pliable tongue along the seam of her lips. She gasped and he took advantage, sliding his metallic tongue against her warm one.

Rogue froze at the feel of his tongue, and when it touched hers, she tried to pull away, but Piotr wouldn't have it. After a moment, when nothing bad happened, the sensations overwhelmed her and she melted against him. Yes, his tongue had a metallic tinge, but it was warm and rubbed against hers, sending all sorts of heat all the way down to her toes. She moaned ever so softly, but Piotr heard and felt it and tugged her closer.

After several long, heated minutes, they pulled apart. Rogue rested her forehead against his chest, trying to regain her composure. Piotr rested his chin atop her head, trying to do the same.

"So you wanted to tell me something?" she asked finally, giving a short laugh afterward to show she was joking.

His chest rumbled as he laughed. "Actually, yes."

She leaned back, looking up at him. He met her gaze evenly. His hand lifted from her waist and brushed her cheek, cupping it, his skin changing to protect itself without conscious thought.

Giving her a warm look he said, "Marie…you are an amazing woman. I have felt very privileged to have gotten to know you this past year, and I know Warren feels the same."

Rogue smiled, biting her lip. She reached up and placed her hand over his on her cheek.

He continued in his deep, cultured voice, "You are so very beautiful. And strong. I know you don't believe it, but you were very much so even before…the incident," he finished, referring to her episode with Ms. Marvel. Piotr gave her an intent look then, "Do not ever let anyone make you think otherwise. Even yourself."

Rogue tried to stop it, but she felt a tear slip down her cheek. Before he could brush it away, she moved forward wrapping her arms around his neck, stretching to hug him fiercely. He returned it.

"Thank you," she murmured into his ear. "Thank you for everything."

She pressed a kiss to his neck. She felt him jolt, but from surprise, not pain. Rogue continued to kiss a trail up his neck to his jaw, leaving a string of metallic spots, before he pulled back far enough to meet her lips fiercely with his.

As he jerked her hips against his, pressing her to him firmly, a lone figure stood in the shadows of a weeping willow, watching. Only a click of a lighter closing and his heart breaking could be heard in the deserted corner….

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A/N: Alright. This is a little blurp in between my RoguePyro one-shot, "What If" and my newer fanfiction continuing the story five years after the Alkali Lake incident, which is also RoguePyro. But like the comics, the characters go through several relationships before ending up with the right one. Plus, I wanted Rogue to have a close personal connection with Warren and Piotr, like her friendship with Bobby and John. So, for those who are strict RogueColossus fans, I kept all Pyro moments with her strictly angst.;)

Please Read & Review. Flames will be used in your own destruction.


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